


The Etiquette of Human Interaction

by chexxrain



Category: NCT (Band), Wanna One (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-18
Updated: 2018-08-18
Packaged: 2019-06-29 01:22:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15719016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chexxrain/pseuds/chexxrain
Summary: Mark Lee considers himself socially inept. He never saw it as a problem as he got through life fairly easily by limiting the amount of people he talks to outside of his immediate family. Although, when he decides to move to South Korea to attend university, Mark finds himself in social situations which he handles a bit clumsily, and ultimately messes up a couple of times.Through this, Mark has captured the attention of Daniel, a dance major who finds it hilarious to watch him squirm.





	The Etiquette of Human Interaction

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! 
> 
> First of all thank you for reading this fic! I would just like to put out some disclaimers:  
> I am not Korean, and find it quite awkward to use Korean phrases and statements whilst writing. I still try my best in order to acquire a certain level of accuracy in my writing. However, if any of you see any mistakes which needs correcting, please feel free to inform me!
> 
> Secondly, I love and appreciate both bands, but I do have a bias towards NCT and am not as familiar with Wanna One. Also, both these bands have a lot of members, 18 in NCT (currently) and 11 in Wanna One. That's 29 members in total (holy SHIT). So if your fav is not in the fic, please forgive me. I literally cannot accommodate everyone, especially when I'm trying to make the fic mainly about two members. 
> 
> Thirdly, this fic is in fact inspired by It's Dangerous Beyond the Blankets! Mark and Daniel became an immediate ship of mine while I was watching the show and I HAD to write a fic about them. I highly recommend watching this show, if you haven't already!

"Relax, it's just a dorm party, you're not attending a ball in the Buckingham Palace." 

Mark would like to disagree. The etiquette when attending a dorm party was far more complex. Upon arrival, one must greet the host and immediately find the clique in which they desired to spend their night with. Depending on how much alcohol that clique is consuming, one must pace themselves so they are not deemed as a 'prude' or 'lightweight', but one must also be mindful that they do not consume too much alcohol to the point that they become the unpredictable drunk friend of the night. There is also the underlying objective of dorm parties where one is expected to find a partner with whom they will accompany after the night has ended. And under no circumstance must one attend the dorm party and sit in the corner, staring at people, because then they are labelled as that 'weirdo' who has no friends and is thus, never invited to a dorm party ever again. 

Upon only travelling from his classes to his room with no other human interaction unless totally necessary, you can only guess who Mark was destined to be that night. The only people who he really spoke to since moving to South Korea to attend university was his roommate, Haechan, and Johnny. Haechan was the exact opposite of Mark. Firstly, his real name was Donghyuk, but he insisted on being called Haechan. Being a musical theater major with an exuberant personality and bold fashion sense. More often than not Mark has seen Haechan leaving their room wearing various fur coats, neon tank tops, and even a cape. He also had a large group of friends, which ultimately meant that he barely spent time with Mark.

Johnny was the senior who was assigned to show Mark around because they were both from around the same hemisphere. Johnny was nice enough, Mark supposed. He wasn't typically the type of person Mark would seek out to be friends with because they seemed too cool. Johnny is in his last year of university, majoring in music and arts. He also has a lot of friends, just being such a naturally carefree person.

It baffled Mark to no end, as every waking second of Mark's life is filled with anxiety. What is he so anxious about? Everything under the sun, apparently. His social life has also suffered greatly because of it. When he was in Canada he had some good friends, and he liked to believe that he was the type of guy people generally liked, however the stress of social situations is a lot for Mark to handle, which is why he tends to avoid them. This was unfortunate, as it resulted in Mark procrastinating on making new friends. Johnny also picked up on Mark's routine, which is why he invited Mark to his dorm party in the middle of them playing video games.

Biting his lips, Mark gave Johnny an uncertain look, "Do I have to bring stuff?"

Johnny paused the game and looked at Mark, "Stuff like what?"

"I don't know, chips?" Mark, again thought about dorm party etiquette and believed that somewhere in there you should bring some sort of party snack. 

Johnny shrugged and stood up from the chair he was sitting in, "If it feels right, Mark," He made his way to the bathroom.

Mark continued to bite his lips, deep in thought. He had plenty of sleep overs with his two friends in Canada, and he went to a rave once, but besides that he has never been to an actual party. He had half a mind not to go, as the thought of being at a party made him anxious, but he immediately decided that he should go, because if he doesn't he would only stay at home stressing over the fact that he doesn't have friends. When Johnny came back from the bathroom, Mark had said, "Okay, I'll come to your party."

 

Mark stared at himself in the full length mirror of his dorm room. He wore a simple white shirt with ripped blue jeans. That was good enough for a party, right? He continued to stare until Haechan came back from the showers, wearing a red velvet jumpsuit. "What are you doing?" He asked as he opened his closet door. 

"Do you think this outfit is suitable for a party?" Mark turned from the mirror and did some what of an awkward pose. 

Haechan gave him a once over, not bothering to hide his disgusted expression. "It's a bit plain for my taste. But it suits you fine." Mark didn't know what to make of that sentence. He turned back to the mirror, staring at himself again. "Okay that was mean," Haechan said, "Your outfit is what you'll see all the other guys wearing. Don't you want to stand out?"

"Not really." 

Letting out an unsatisfied hum, Haechan searched through his clothes, pulling out a black Gucci shirt and a white fur coat. Upon seeing the look of horror on Mark's face, Haechan said, "The Gucci is for you and the fur coat is for me," He handed Mark the shirt. "You should wear it with your denim jacket and keep the pants."

"Thanks!" Mark gave him a wide smile. "Are you going to Johnny hyung's party?"

"Later. I'm going to one of my friend's birthday parties, then we'll pass by Johnny hyung." Haechan said as he arranged another outfit. "I'll introduce you to them. I think you would all get along."

With his smile growing even wider, Mark nodded. "I'll love that."

 

Johnny's party wasn't even in a dorm, it turns out. Instead, it was being held in an apartment close to campus. It was a longer walk than Mark would have liked to make, but it did give him the chance to buy two family packs of chips. It was quite a big apartment in a fancy hotel and Mark wondered how Johnny was able to throw a party in a place like that without getting in trouble. The door was unlocked and as Mark walked in, he was slightly surprised by the small number of people.

"Hey, Mark!" Johnny called out. 

Mark turned to him with a smile on his face, "Hi! I brought chips."

Johnny laughed, "I didn't actually think you'd do that, but thanks," He took the chips from Mark and glanced around the room. 

"There's not as many people as I thought there would be," Mark said. 

"Well it's still early, more people might show up." Johnny glanced around the room once more and turned back to Mark, "There's some people I want you to meet."

Ah, the dreaded part. Despite the immediate panic which shot through Mark's body, he gave Johnny what he believed to be a genuine smile, "Sure."

Johnny led Mark to the far corner of the room where a small group of people where conversing. "Hey guys, this is Mark," Johnny pulled Mark from behind him, "Mark, this is Jaehyun, Woojin, and Taeyong."

Mark glanced at them and gave them a small smile, "Hi," He bowed. 

"Mark just joined the university from Canada and he's a business major," Johnny explained, "Taeyong, you two might have some stuff to talk about. Now I gotta go find someone," And with that, Johnny promptly left. 

Mark gave them a small smile and bowed, "Hi."

"So you major in business?" The guy with dyed red hair, Taeyong, asked. Mark kind of knew him since he saw him around campus, as well as hanging around Johnny.

"Um, yes," Mark stuttered, "Well mostly I focus on business management, but I'm starting to warm up to accounting."

Taeyong's face twisted into an over-exaggerated expression of disgust, "I hated accounting in year one! How could you like it? It's so much work and it gets in the way of actually enjoying being a business major." 

Mark chuckled, "Well it isn't that bad. I was always kind of good in math, so that helped, I guess."

Taeyong nodded while rubbing his chin, thoughtfully, "I was always bad at math, so maybe that's why."

"Johnny said you were from Canada?" Jaehyun asked.

"Oh, yeah. I wanted to come to school here for a change of scenery." Mark responded. 

"You know, I used to live in America for four years," Jaehyun said in English, proudly. 

Taeyong rolled his eyes and Woojin spoke up, "Jaehyun, the fact that you lived in America for four years isn't as impressive as you think."

Mark watched Woojin in surprise, "You understood him?"

"He tells everyone who can speak English that he lived in America for four years," Taeyong said, "We kind of caught on after hearing him say that ten million times."

Jaehyun pouted, looking defeated. "You guys are mean."

Mark laughed and started to feel himself relax. Maybe making friends would be easier than he thought. 

"There are the dancers," Woojin said, watching the front door. Turning around, Mark saw a group of both boys and girls entering. Suddenly, the room felt a little more cramped. One of the more handsome guys in the group started to make his way to the direction of Mark and the tiny group. He walked confidently and when he got to them, he eyed Mark with a raised eyebrow. 

"Oh, this is Mark," Taeyong said, "Mark, that's Yuta."

Yuta dropped his stony expression and gave Mark a small smile, "Nice to meet you."

"Same to you," Mark said, although Yuta didn't hear him as the music was raised at that point. 

"Where's Sicheng and Daniel?" Jaehyun shouted. 

"Sicheng went to the bathroom," Yuta shouted back, "Daniel's coming later!" 

"I brought drinks!" A smaller guy said as he approached their group. He had a platter with more drinks than they needed, as Yuta and Mark were the only ones who didn't have drinks. 

"I thought you went to the bathroom," Yuta asked, taking a drink. 

"I was but Johnny asked me to hand out drinks," The guy replied as Mark took one for himself. He then looked at Mark. "You're a new face! I'm Sicheng!"

"Mark!" Mark shouted his greeting. 

 

It was indeed later, maybe three hours since he had arrived, when Haechan found Mark. At this point, the party was in full swing. A significant amount of people had showed up at that point, and Mark was starting to get pleasantly buzzed. So far, he had gotten time to get acquainted with the guys Johnny had introduced him to. Mark had found out that Yuta was from Japan, and Sicheng from China. They were really interesting people to hang around, Mark concluded as he listened to Woojin, Yuta and Taeyong insult Jaehyun, with Sicheng adding a sentence every now and again. 

"What are you even wearing? Jaehyun, Birkenstocks are not meant for twenty-one year old guys to wear." Taeyong said. Mark laughed along with the rest of the group as Jaehyun tried to somehow make his feet invisible. Then he felt a sudden tug at his sleeve. Turning around, he saw Haechan wearing his fur coat.

"Haechan!" Woojin screamed. 

"Woojin!" Haechan screamed back as he pushed past Mark to hug Woojin. They both pulled apart after a while. After giving Yuta a high-five and waving at Sicheng and Taeyong, Haechan asked, "Do you guys mind if I steal Mark for a second?"

"Actually, yes we do." Taeyong said, pulling Mark closer to him. "He's cute and we want to keep him."

"Hyung!" Haechan gave Taeyong a pointed look. 

"Okay, okay!" Taeyong let go of Mark and Haechan immediately grabbed him. 

"I expect him to be back by twelve!" Taeyong yelled as Haechan dragged Mark into the crowd. Trying his best not to bump into too many people, Mark let Haechan lead him. They emerged on the other side of the room, closer to the balcony doors, where some light seeped in from outside. They approached another group, everyone here looking slightly younger than the other group. 

"Everyone, this is my roommate Mark!" Haechan announced, dramatically showing Mark off. 

Giving a tiny wave, Mark smiled, "Hi!" 

"Mark this is Jeno, Jaemin and Renjun!" Haechan shouted. Mark took one good look at each of their faces and concluded that Haechan's friends were good looking to the point that it was almost insulting. Jeno gave Mark a smile that reflected in his eyes and Jaemin, who stood close to Jeno also gave Mark a wide smile. Renjun was a little more shy, glancing from between Mark and the floor. Mark immediately related to Renjun and chose to stand closer to him. 

"So we finally get to meet you!" Jaemin said, "Haechan talks about you a lot!"

"He does?" Mark was surprised as he looked at Haechan.

Haechan simply shrugged, "We live together."

"I thought you hated me!" 

"Why would you think that?" 

"We never really spend time together," Mark gave Haechan a confused look.

Haechan reciprocated that look, "What do you mean? We live together."

"Yeah, but we never really talk."

"Yes, we do."

Mark was completely baffled at this point. Haechan barely spent any time in their dorm. And when he did, he was either doing homework or picking out an outfit, which took him longer to do than his homework. 

"Haechan has a unique way of bonding with people," Jeno said. 

"He really does." Jaemin agreed, "The first couple of times we met, Haechan and I fought every time and then the next month he called me his best friend."

"You guys are exaggerating," Haechan said as he rolled his eyes. 

"No, you're just weird." Renjun spoke up. They all laughed as Haechan gave Renjun a fake glare. Mark looked back at Renjun. He was definitely the most quiet out of all of them. Quiet people was needed in a group of friends that consisted of Haechan, and it looked like Jaemin also had an extravagant personality, judging from the way he carried himself. When Renjun caught Mark staring, he blushed. Mark also blushed, from getting caught. 

"Uh, I'm going to get another drink." Mark said, "I'll be back."

"Sure." Haechan said, as he started to sway to the pop music playing in the background. 

Mark started to make his way through the crowd again, getting thrown into various directions from the force of so many people moving. He concluded that his was his least favourite part of parties. He wasn't really claustrophobic, but having so many drunk, sweaty people in your personal space wasn't something Mark would look forward to if he attends another party. He had almost made it out of the crowd, the kitchen being quite literally the light at the end of the tunnel, as the lights in the kitchen were on. However, a large force knocked into Mark, dumping its drink all over Haechan's Gucci t-shirt. 

"Shit! I'm so sorry!" Mark's offender said. Looking up at him, Mark saw a look of urgency in the man's eyes. Mark was about to tell him it's fine and that he should continue running recklessly through the apartment, but the guy suddenly grabbed his arm and led him to the kitchen quickly. Taeyong was filling cups, while also cleaning up the space around him. "Taeyong! I spilled my drink on him! Please deal with this for me, I have to go!" And with that, Mark's offender ran out of the room. 

Taeyong stared at the empty spot where the guy was standing for a moment before snapping his eyes to Mark's shirt. "Is that real Gucci? Oh no! Take that off!" 

Mark immediately went into action, stripping himself of his jacket and then taking off the shirt. Taeyong grabbed it from him and opened a door in he corner of the room, which turned out to be the laundry room. "We should wash this immediately, so the stain won't set. At least it's black."

Mark silently watched him, praying to the gods that Haechan won't notice anything. "Did you know that guy?"

"Hm? Daniel?" Taeyong said as he stumbled a little while bending over to pick up the detergent from the floor. He giggled, "Sorry. I'm a bit drunk. But yeah, I know Daniel. He usually isn't like that." Taeyong threw the shirt in the washing machine, then looked down at his shirt and took it off and threw it in as well. 

"Why did you do that?" Mark asked. 

"It shouldn't just have one shirt in there, that's wasting water. It was also a black shirt so we're washing dark clothes! Maybe we should see if anyone else needs to wash dark items of clothing?"

Mark don't think it would have mattered if one shirt washed by itself in the machine, but he stopped Taeyong as he attempted to go ask anyone if they needed to wash their clothes. "I don't want to get our clothes mixed up with other people's."

"Ah, good thinking!" Taeyong said, as he turned to watch the washing machine. Mark only had two drinks, but he was sure Taeyong was more than a little drunk. Although, they both now had no shirts to wear and while Mark had no problem walking outside with no shirt, he didn't want to deal with Haechan's rage, just yet.

"So what do we do now?" Mark asked. 

"Well I would suggest getting a shirt from the bedroom but I'm pretty sure people are having sex in there." 

Mark grimaced. "What's our other option?"

Taeyong sat on the floor, "We wait." 

Not really seeing a better idea, Mark also sat down. "Okay."

 

"What the fuck? Get out of my laundry room!" 

Mark groggily opened his eyes. The first thing he processed was the pain. Pain in his back, pain in his neck, pain in his arm, just pain. Then he heard a groan next to him and Mark became aware of the person sleeping on his arm. Taeyong rolled further onto his arm, facing him with his eyes barely open. 

"Johnny!" The same voice screamed again. 

"Jesus, Sehun, I have the worst hangover ever. Why are....Oh my god, Mark!" 

Looking above him, Mark saw the shocked face of Johnny, and the annoyed face of some guy he didn't know. Then, he realized what it probably looked like with Taeyong in his arms and the both of them not wearing any shirts. Quickly sitting up and letting Taeyong fall on the floor, Mark almost shouted, "No! This is not what it looks like!" 

"The first party you go to and you fuck a guy older than you in the laundry room!" Johnny still looked shocked. "Honestly, I thought you had higher standards than this." Mark felt all of the blood drain from his face, not finding the words to defend himself. 

"Fuck you, I'm a catch." Taeyong muttered, rubbing his head as he sat up. "But Mark's right. Daniel spilled something on his shirt last night and I put both his shirt and mine to wash. I guess we fell asleep."

"The shirt!" Mark said as he stood up to check on it. It had washed and thankfully, didn't smell bad from not drying yet. 

"You should air dry it." Taeyong said, as he took his shirt out, as well. 

"Johnny, you're never allowed to throw a party in my hotel ever again." Sehun said. 

 

Mark has never been a procrastinator. It just wasn't in his blood. He wants to believe that this came to be due to the crippling anxiety he felt over being unprepared, and ultimately becoming a failure. Was an assignment due a week later? Well he better do it immediately, otherwise he wouldn't have enough time to do it properly later and get an F in class and everyone would hate him. Did he have chores to do? Well if he waited a couple of hours to do the chores then that would force someone else in the household to do it and everyone would hate him. What Mark didn't account for, however, was that everyone would hate him if he handed up his assignments on time, or did his chores immediately. 

When it was the day before the assignment was due, everyone in class would huddle together and complain about not starting it and how much work they would have to do when they get home. Then, with curious yet judging eyes, they would ask Mark if he started his assignment yet, to which he had to answer honestly and say that he actually finished. Then everyone would hate him, because apparently it was a class effort to start the assignment the day before it was due. It was just an unspoken rule. Likewise at home, when Mark and his siblings were given chores to do while their parents were out, Mark would immediately do his, while his siblings lounged around, complaining about how much of a goody two-shoes he was. 

Those were just the things in life Mark had to deal with, because of him not wanting to face the pressure of the last minute rush. He didn't expect anything to be different when going to university in Korea. So, on the day when an accounting assignment was due, Mark wasn't surprised to see the classroom mostly empty when walking in. It was a surreal experience, really, as the accounting class was the biggest out of his courses. Those who were in class looked extremely tired and grumpy. As Mark skimmed the classroom with his eyes, he spotted a face he didn't expect to see. 

Renjun looked less tired than the others as he furiously wrote in his portfolio. However, Mark suspected the large cup of coffee in front of him had something to do with his lack of exhaustion. Biting his lips shyly, Mark debated whether or not he should approach him, as they only met once and he wasn't sure if they were at that stage in their friendship. But deciding that he was overthinking the situation, Mark quickly walked to the seat next to Renjun and plopped down while asking, "Is this seat taken?" 

Renjun startled at the sudden approach, but otherwise didn't seem surprised to see Mark. "No, it's not," He said with a shy smile. 

"I didn't know you were in this class."

Renjun shrugged while glancing at what he was writing. "It's a pretty big class. I saw you before though, I just didn't know you were Haechan's roommate." 

"Oh. Well, you look busy. So, don't mind me."

"No, it's fine. I was finished, anyway," Renjun said with a smile as he closed his portfolio and Mark's gaze lingered on him, while thinking that his smile was sort of cute. "Have you finished your assignment?"

Mark blinked, "Oh, um, yeah! It was normal, I guess."

Renjun nodded as the professor walked in, not looking too surprised by the lack of students. "Wow," The professor said as he rest his stuff on the desk, "A lot of people are going to lose ten percent of their overall grade."

 

After class, Renjun and Mark walked out together. Accounting was the only class they had together, Mark realized, as Renjun double majored in Math and Physics. 

"So why didn't you tell me that we were in the same class when we met?" Mark asked as they walked to the cafe on campus. 

"Well it was kind of loud there," Renjun said, "Not really the place for a conversation."

Noting the soft way in which Renjun spoke and his careful pronunciation of each word, Mark asked, "Are you from here?"

Renjun let out a light giggle at that, "Is it that obvious?"

Smiling at his guessing skills, Mark replied, "Not really! You speak Korean really well! Maybe better than me."

Renjun laughed harder at that, "I don't think so. I moved here from China when I was ten and I only knew conversational Korean. But I had a really good tutor and eventually I got a lot better. I still struggle with a lot of words, though."

Mark hummed, liking the sound of Renjun's voice. It was soft and sweet, almost like a lullaby. They got to the cafe and each ordered their drinks separately. Renjun getting another coffee, and Mark settling with tea, as caffeine did more harm to him than good. They had settled into a seat when Haechan entered the coffee shop confidently, as if he were certain everyone's eyes were on him. His outfit was quite tame, as he wore a simple white t-shirt with grey sweatpants and Gucci sunglasses. He glanced around the cafe, as if looking to see if anyone was gawking at him, but instead he met Mark's gaze. At first he had no reaction, but upon seeing Renjun sitting opposite Mark, his lip curled up into a smirk. Haechan then turned and ordered his drink, and waited for it, all while Mark mentally prepared himself for whatever bombshell Haechan was about to release on them. 

Renjun hadn't really said anything, just sipping on his coffee and glancing through the windows. So when Haechan received his drink and walked over to their table, pulling out the chair, Renjun whipped his head around in surprise. 

"Hanging out without me, I see," Haechan said as he took a sip of his cold drink. 

Mark laughed, "Well I just discovered that Renjun is in my accounting class."

Haechan took off his Gucci sunglasses and gave Renjun a mocking look, to which Renjun replied by pressing his lips together and slightly raising his eyebrows. Mark didn't exactly know what was going on, so he decided to ignore the silent exchange between them. 

"So what are you up to, Haechan?" Renjun asked after their weird moment. 

"Well, I just came back from dance classes. It was nice and some people asked me about you, Mark."

"Really?" Mark asked, kind of surprised, "Who?"

"Just Taeyong," Haechan said as he waved his hand dismissively. "Actually, I was thinking about carrying you there so maybe you could join the club."

"Why?"

"What do you mean 'why'? You're literally always dancing around the dorm. Sometimes it looks good, but it's mostly annoying."

Mark's cheeks flushed as Renjun giggled. He didn't know he danced that much. "Well, I don't know. I'm kind of busy," Mark said as he took a sip of his tea. 

Haechan gave him an unimpressed look. "How many times do I have to remind you that we live together? Between classes all you do is play video games and have dance breaks in our room. If you join the club you can have dance breaks there and I won't be subjected to that particular type of torture anymore."

Sensing that things won't go his way, Mark stopped trying to fight it. "Okay, I'll do it."

"Sensational," Haechan said as he put on his sunglasses again. 

 

It was a rainy Friday afternoon, and Mark was about to curl up in his bed with a good video game when Haechan gave him a pointed look and demanded that he gets his ass out of bed and put on some work out clothes. That was when Mark realized that Haechan was serious about making him join the dancing club. To say that Mark was quite unwilling to do this was putting it mildly. He knew that he was supposed to join at least one club before he graduated, and Mark planned to, just not in his first year. Not for any specific reason besides laziness.

Dance club took place on Friday afternoons and Saturdays, as it was the only time the studio could accommodate it. The week was meant for the actual dance majors who needed the space more than the club. The studio was was close to their dorms and Mark silently sent thanks to whoever the architect was as he and Haechan ran through the downpour and into the building. As they walked through the hallways, various people greeted Haechan, to which he enthusiastically returned and Mark giggled at how Haechan thrived under attention. 

They walked into a huge room with mirrors on one side of the wall and sound equipment jammed into one corner. There were only a few people in there, but Mark immediately recognized the dark red hair. Taeyong, apparently, had immediately recognized him too, as within two seconds of stepping into the room he yelled, "Mark!" And ran over to engulf Mark in a bear hug. Despite not seeing Taeyong since falling sleeping with him at Johnny's party, Mark feels like they had formed some kind of bond and that they need to be in each other's lives now. 

"Taeyong!" Mark said with equally as much as excitement. 

"Haechan said he was going to drag you here," Taeyong smiled warmly at him as they walked to the group in the center of the room. Mark saw some familiar faces such as Yuta and Sicheng, as well as some unfamiliar ones. 

"Hi," Mark said shyly. Even though he was comfortable with Taeyong, Mark was still hesitant around Yuta, more so than Sicheng. He just had this icy aura that slightly intimidated Mark. 

"You already know these two," Taeyong dismissed Yuta and Sicheng in a dramatic hand gesture, "This is Jihoon, Jisung and Daniel. You actually kind of already know Daniel, though. He was the guy that spilled the drink on you at Johnny's party."

Mark wearily regarded Daniel. Haechan, of course, immediately found out about the stain as his shirt still had the stench of alcohol and he went into a full rant about how Mark was never to touch his clothes again with a ten foot pole. It was quite scary. Daniel guiltily rubbed the back of his neck and gave Mark an apologetic smile, "Sorry about that."

"Oh, um," Mark stuttered. Daniel really did look sorry, and while Mark wanted to at least give him the cold shoulder, he couldn't find it in himself to do so. "It's alright," Mark sighed and glanced at Haechan, who had his arms folded and was glaring at Daniel. 

"And where's my apology?" He said. 

Daniel looked at Haechan and laughed, totally unaffected by the antics. "I'm sorry, Haechan. You know I'll never deliberately hurt you like that." He said easily and Haechan visibly got flustered. What a smooth motherfucker, Mark thought as he watched Haechan compose himself. 

The room gradually filled in with students of all ages who were in the dance club. Yuta and Sicheng left, but the others stayed. Mark discovered that Taeyong and Daniel were actually the ones in charge of the club as Taeyong was in his final year and had been in the dance club since his first, and Daniel was some 'dance god', apparently. Mark would have believed it when he saw it. He wasn't too sure how he felt about Daniel, despite being unable to stay mad at him, Mark noticed that Daniel was quite the flirt, easily charming everyone he spoke to with an alluring smile and sparkling eyes. People like that usually irritated Mark. 

There were a total of fifteen people in the club, sixteen now, counting Mark. Taeyong had explained to him that there weren't supposed to take any more people in at this time in the academic year, but when Haechan asked to include Mark, he couldn't say no. Mark smiled at how much Taeyong seemed to like him already. It made him kind of happy that he went to Johnny's stupid party. 

"Okay everyone!" Daniel shouted above the chatter. "We're going to start a new choreography today. It's quite fitting since we have a new member." Everyone turned to Mark, as if expecting him to say something. 

"Oh, well," Mark started, "Uh, I'm Mark."

"Who's your favourite dancer?" A girl with pigtails and a mischievous smiled asked. 

Mark paled and his eyes nervously darted around the room until they landed on Haechan, who was badly concealing a snicker in the corner by the sound system. "I like Haechan's dancing a lot," Mark said before he could stop himself. 

"It seems you have a fan, Haechan," Daniel chucked and the room erupted in laughter. Mark let out a laugh as well, but he really wanted to run away. Just leave. 

The session after that was the most hellish hour of Mark's life. It took him forever to memorize the dance moves and he seemed to stand out with his awkward moves and panicked looks. It was also the most Mark has worked out probably ever. Twenty minutes in and his thighs were burning and his feet felt like they were on fire. To add to this torture, Daniel seems to have pegged Mark as the perfect person to tease. With every wrong move and stumble, Mark would hear, "That was so off, Mark," or "Your idol is judging you, Mark" and when he didn't say anything, whenever Mark looked up, he saw Daniel's amused smirk and the sudden urge to punch him rose up within Mark. 

Near the ending of the session, Daniel got a text and had to leave ten minutes early. The class was wrapped up pretty quickly after that and Mark all but collapsed on the wooden floor. Students flooded out, until all who was left in the room was Haechan, Taeyong, and the girl with pigtails. "Well, that was certainly more amusing than I thought it would be," Haechan said as he approached Mark's resting figure. 

"Shut up," Mark groaned. 

"You're not that bad," Taeyong said as he dug through his bag. 

"Don't lie to me," Mark wiped the sweat from his forehead. 

"You're really not," Haechan said, handing him a towel. "I mean, you were worse than I expected but not as bad as people usually start off."

"You have good rhythm," Taeyong agreed. 

"You were definitely better than me when I first started," Pigtails said. 

"Yuri's right, she was awful," Taeyong barely dodged a slap that Yuri aimed at his arm. "Don't worry about Daniel. He was just teasing you a bit." 

Mark grumbled as he thought about all the teasing he had endured. He definitely didn't like Daniel. 

 

On Saturday, Mark had plans to sleep all morning and play video games all afternoon, but Haechan had something else on his mind when he sprayed Mark with water at 7 A.M. Mark was having a particularly nice dream when he felt a sudden moisture on his face. Blinking the sleep out of his eyes, Mark saw Haechan holding a spray bottle while giving him a stern look. 

"Get up. You're going to dance class again today."

Mark groaned and wiped the water off of his face. His limbs ached from yesterday's practice and he remembered being annoyed by Daniel. Scrunching his face, he turned away from Haechan. "I'm not going. Dancing isn't my thing."

"Renjun is going to be there."

"What does that have to do with me?"

"Don't you like him?"

Mark sat up and faced Haechan, the sleep fully gone. "What?"

"And I'm not supposed to say this but he likes you too," Haechan rambled on as he sat on his bed. "I personally don't know what he sees in you."

Mark felt his ears turning red. "What? He likes me?"

"Yeah. Mark, you need to keep up." Haechan snapped his fingers. "I'm tired of seeing Renjun pine over you so that's why I'm telling you this. You guys practically went out on a date already."

"You mean the coffee shop? That wasn't a date!"

"It wasn't?" Haechan gave him a weird look. "You should talk to Renjun. 

Mark wasn't sure how to feel about this new discovery. He hadn't thought much about relationships, or his sexuality, since he was simply trying to make friends. He had barely been a relationship when he lived in Canada. And even then it was a girl he kissed once and then they never went out again. Since then he pretty much felt the same about both girls and guys. Both genders were nice to look at, but he never thought of perusing a relationship with anyone. 

They both got dressed. Mark in a white shirt, black track pants and converse, and Haechan in a tight black top with ripped jeans that had fishnet stockings under with combat boots. They ran by the cafe to get a quick breakfast, but Mark's stomach was already filled with anxiety at having to see Renjun. He had absolutely no idea what to say. 

After that, they both walked silently to the studio. It was quite awkward, as Mark and Haechan knew what was going to happen once getting there and seeing Renjun. Mark was trying to practice what he was going to say to him, but couldn't think of anything else to say beyond 'It's not you, it's me'. And saying that would probably be worse than saying nothing. Sensing his inner turmoil, Haechan grabbed Mark's arm and halted their steps at the side of the studio. "You don't have to go. I'll tell them you won't feeling well."

"No, I have to go." Mark said, although his face probably gave away how nervous he was. 

"Listen, Renjun is the sweetest person I know and it's my fault that you're scared but you were going to find out eventually. I don't want you to hurt his feelings so maybe you should just avoid him until you know how you feel." 

Mark was about to answer, but his gaze shifted to a figure behind Haechan. Renjun stood there, looking completely stunned. Mark's eyes widened as Haechan glanced back to see what he was looking at, but did a double take once he saw Renjun. 

"He knows?" Renjun asked Haechan. 

"Uh," Haechan stared at Renjun, for once in his life not having anything to say. 

Renjun sighed heavily, although he didn't look angry, but dejected . As if he already knew that things weren't going to go his way. Mark's heart ached seeing him look like that. "Renjun, let's talk."

Renjun gave him an uncertain look, but eventually nodded. Mark motioned for them to walk away from the studio and Renjun complied. Mark gave Haechan one last look, to which Haechan gave him a thumbs up with a skittish smile and walked into the studio.

They walked to a bench far enough from the studio and both sat. It was quiet between them for a while, and Mark was about to open his mouth when Renjun spoke first. "I should have expected that Haechan couldn't keep that secret." Mark gave him a tight lipped smile, but said nothing. "I actually liked you before I knew you were his roommate. I only saw you in class and I thought you were cute." Renjun let out an uneasy laugh. 

"But you never spoke to me." 

"I didn't think you were interested in guys." Renjun gave him a hopeful look. "Are you?"

Mark glanced away, feeling flustered. "I-I don't know. I've never thought about it." Renjun only nodded, the broken-hearted expression returning, and Mark couldn't help himself but to impusivly say, "But it's not you! It's me!" If it were possible, Renjun's face dropped more. 

"Aren't you supposed to be in the studio, Mark?" A voice said from behind them. Spinning around, Mark felt his mood worsen upon seeing the arrogant smirk on Daniel's face. Daniel looked at Renjun and his smirk turned into a pleasant smile, "Hi Renjun!" 

"Hey, hyung," Renjun returned his greeting with a small smile. 

"Are you okay?" Daniel asked, sounding concerned. Mark knitted his eyebrows, Daniel's whole persona changed as he was talking to Renjun. 

Renjun shrugged as he got up, "Just tired. I don't think I'm going to make dance practice today anymore." He then bid Mark and Daniel farewell, with his eyes purposefully avoiding to meet the former's. Mark opened his mouth to say something to Renjun, but he seemed to basically run away, leaving Mark and Daniel staring at his retreating back. 

Daniel turned his head to glare at Mark. "What did you do to him?"

Mark let out a frustrated huff, "I didn't do anything!" 

"Then why is he crying?"

"He isn't crying! He's just tired," Mark's voice trailed off as he ended his sentence. Renjun was obviously crying and arguing with Daniel about it was like trying to debate about water being wet. 

Daniel gave him a weird look, as if he couldn't believe how much of an idiot Mark is. Eventually, he sighed and looked around whilst casually scratching his head. Mark watched him, sort of admiring the way his bleached blond hair shined in the morning sun. He was about to compliment Daniel on his hair when Daniel looked back at him and said, "You should still go to dance practice. You really need the help."

"Your hair is ugly."


End file.
